I haven't seen a thread with ANA reports, so I'm starting this one with mine. I goto shows with a want list and prices. Lately the list has been getting shorter as I have been buying items without adding new wants to the list. This was my first time to an ANA show. I've been to Long Beach and one other smaller show. Many others are saying the energy level and traffic were low because of the city, the venue, the time of year, the economy. A few dealers were saying they boosted their prices for the show because of the CA sales tax. Friday was my ANA day. I arrive via the Blue Line light rail. One misstep is leaving my sun hat on the train. I decide to just jump in and walk the bourse without consulting the map. I walk straight back to the Budget Section then circle left and right. Two dealers had a couple of items on my list, but price was too high for my blood. (Average coins at average prices, is the way I prefer to go.) By now it was 1 p.m. and I remember Rick Snow posting on the PCGS forum about a seminar he was giving on counterfeit Indian cents. I asked at the message center to find the room. There are about 15 folks there, about half are members of the FlyIn club. Another recognizable forum dealer, the PennyLady Charmy is also in attendance. There was a problem with the video projector so Mr. Snow eventually decides to go with just the laptop. A good job by Mr. Snow. I don't collect the series, though a do own a few Indian cents. By now it is 2 p.m. and since the bourse didn't seem to hold that much promise I decide to listen to another talk. The second one is from LSCC (Liberty Seated Collectors Club) member Gerry Fortin, about his top rated dime registry set. I am not a registy player, so hearing about how the other side lives gave me some insights. There are 121 coins in the full Seated Liberty dime set. A lot of coins have tiny pops in the upper grades. Quite a few coin images have numbers like 33/12 or 4/7 or 2/1 (two in this grade, one higher). Filter out the coins that are undesirable because of suspecting dipping, or accelerated toning or other problems, out of the graded numbers and the search can get to be long and hard. As one might imagine some of upper pop coins with good eye appeal and an original look go for huge money. It took 21 years to get the set to where it is, and there are still a few coins where upgrades are being sought. So now 3 p.m. back to bourse. I look for a token that I am shopping for as a gift, no luck. The line at the U. S. Mint booth has thinned out (it was 20 deep at noon time) and I go over to see what they have. I buy two 2009 silver proof sets as my only purchase for the show. It is nice to come home from a show with a bag full of new purchases. Still, I can pat myself on the back for sticking to my plan and focusing on my want list. In past years, I didn't do that, and didn't make all that much progress. /edit to add: I did take some time to look at the exhibits, and for the most part was quite impressed. There were maybe four long rows of them. This many exhibits is another unique property of an ANA show vs. other shows.
Thanks for the report. I would be curious to hear others' views on how the show went/ what can be divined about the market.
Light foot traffic, slightly better on Saturday than during the week. Light sales. Many blame the location. $25 million Heritage auction... and that was pre-ANA. I don't know about the B&M auction. Lots of fun. Great people. Took a 3-day class. FANTASTIC. Highly, highly recommended. Met some super-hip CT peeps. fun fun fun Reeled in some lunkers, all early US. Two copper, two silver. More details later. Hint - mint state 1839 Booby Head - scientific name Cartwheelus Maximus Looked at all 570 of the Dan Holmes early date Large Cents. :bigeyes: :bigeyes: :bigeyes: A proof-like 1793 MS65 Wreath Cent ??!?!??!? hoochie mama you got to be kiddin' me. I was in a trance for about 15 minutes.
Here's what I saw ... Don't expect sumthin' for nuthin'. Some truly exceptional pieces brought strong money. I was hunting 3c silvers with rainbow - they went for 2x typical history auction records. I let 'em run - too rich for my blood. A rainbow MS68 Oregon commem 50c with for 4x. $28k. That said... careful scouting can yield a fair price on a great coin. Ultra-low "bargains" are probably trouble... per usual.
Reading the various reports here brings back memories of the ANA show in Baltimore last year(?). Seems every dealer had their prices up (doesn't make sense in this economy). And they only bring their top-of-the-line material (does make sense). I bet the table fees are high. But for someone like me looking for older material in XF/AU there's not a lot available. It almost appears that dealers suspend common sense and swing for the fences. I'll attend an ANA show but don't expect to buy much. Give me a Whitman show (Philly in late Sept; Balto in Nov).
Here ye be. Actually the color isn't as intense as this image shows. Something to do with my lighting and maybe the camera. Much more appealing in hand.
Very good chance I'll be going. Like I said elsewhere, I'm having a difficult time finding certain coins to flesh out a couple of my active sets. I've tried a few 30-50 dealer shows, but no go. They cater mostly to the low end and modern items collectors. Even at the Whitman shows I end up almost empty handed. In part that's because I'm looking for XF/AU items (money considerations) and the dealers have MS material. At the June Whitman show in Balto I ended up doing some upgrades rather than getting new coins. But I couldn't pass them up because the prices were very good. These were second level purchases because my primary interests weren't there. At least my Morgans are now pretty much where I want them.
I enjoyed the LA show I spent all day Wednesday, Thursday, & most of Friday on the bourse floor. There was way too much material to see in only one day. I invested time looking at the exhibits, visiting various mint booths, and meeting with individuals at CONECA & the TPGs. The bulk of my time was spent viewing coins and having fun discussions with friends on the floor. There was just so much to do that I only made it to the Penny Lady's booth late one day. She had a nice cent struck on a struck dime (11 cent piece) for sale. If you are looking for an 11 cent piece, then contact the Penny Lady. I bought some other error coins & world coins which I'll photograph tonight. Very best regards, collect89
I was there all day Thurs, Fri, and a few hours Sat. Walked the exhibits several times, some great stuff there. Didn't spend much time on US coins, though I did buy a few upgrades for my IHC set at Charmy's table, and my daughter found some lincolns for her folders. Bought bits and pieces for various numismatic studies I am interested in. I will be presenting some of them on CT. There were dealers present I never normally get to see, so spent a lot of time at those tables. The remainder of the time I was visiting friends, including Arizona Jack who stopped by on Friday. Also had the pleasure of meeting Ardatirion and talking ancients. Some, but not all, dealers seemed a bit put off by lack of retail buyers during the weekdays, though this may have improved on Saturday. It was claimed that people were put off by the location. I took the metro, so it was fairly stress-free except for dodging the guy getting handcuffed on the platform during the Saturday run. And the homeless guy sitting by me who railed for half an hour about the CA budget crisis.
Correction, the 11 cent piece is in my personal collection and was on DISPLAY only and is NOT for sale. I had 2 inline tables in the Budget Section so I did not/could not put out my high end material, though I had it with me. FYI, Kanga, though not your series, I do have a big selection of XF/AU Indians and Lincolns that I always bring with me to all my shows. To me, they are the bread and butter of collecting, and my most popular grade of coin I sell. I had a great time seeing all the CT people who stopped by my table, some of whom I got to meet for the first time. Rick/900fine and his wonderful wife Robin stopped by each day for a quick chat, and I even had dinner/drinks with them, and then we all played pool at our hotel with Rick Snow and Jack and his very lovely wife Sheila. I agree the foot traffic was light for an ANA - the Portland show was much more well attended. However, I have to say that the ANA sure knows how to market to kids - I participate in the Treasure Hunt and had probably about 500 kids stop by my table for their clue (and their new 2009 Lincoln penny), so I was quite busy most of the show. On Saturday I was so busy both with the kids and sales that I never even got to set out the cheese/crackers and wine!! My sales were not bad; however, considering how expensive ANA show tables are (even in the budget section), the high cost of hotels, meals and especially parking, my net was not that great. But on the good side, I made some great buys, including in the B&M auction, so overall I count this as a very successful show. I will be posting photos in the next few days of some of my newps (both for my inventory and my personal collection), and I am sure you will be amazed at what I picked up! I can't wait for Todd to finish shooting them for me.
Yeah, Playing pool after the show was great, and meeting yet another coin talker, 900fine and his wife was great, we had a blast. I was also able to meet Arditerion for a short chat with Acanthite at Charmy's table. LOL, Sheila was dissapointed there was not more " Bling " for her to scope out and got bored kinda quick. That is until........... We visited the Legend table to say hi to Laura and drool over the finest known set of Trade Dollars, it was breathtaking. Legend also had a 1909-VDB Matte Proof in PCGS PR-68 RB with the greenbean, what a looker that was. Sheila has decided she loves toned silver...uh-oh. I had some business to discuss with Wayne Herndon and was able to see one of the finest high grade Lincolln sets in BR....oh those bluish purple Abes do it , a real wow set. Waynes buddy had it on display with a sign " Not For Sale "....to bad, I had my Visa ready to go, lol. I dropped of some hotsauce to several fav dealer friends, comped a few copper folks some Verdi-Gone (tm) and made my way out and back to Hollywood. A quick coin trip for me, in and out, about 3 hours total coin show time. Saturday late at night, I took the wife up Benedict Canyon Dr to Ciello Dr, and to the site of the Manson murders....it was the 40th anniversary and gave me the total creeps.....ewwwww
Manson follower, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme gets paroled this month after serving 25 years for trying to kill President Ford. Bought my first handgun because of these Manson nuts. You felt helpless living in LA at the time.
